If you want to build your confidence in chanting from Torah, or want to learn the melodies of the te'amim (chanting marks), join us for this special Training Tuesdays. You should be able to read Hebrew even if basically or slowly, but if you are worried about this please just email Yael. We will have the joy of being taught by Dr. Chani Smith. These classes will help you take your next steps in your chanting of Torah, and will culminate with a graduation shabbat where we will all leyn and celebrate our learning. Do let us know if you’re coming by signing up below.

 Dr Chani (Haran) Smith (PhD) studied musicology and Kabbalah at the Hebrew University. She later received an MA from Leo Baeck College and a PhD from UCL in Jewish Studies and holds professional qualification from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied flute and composition. She teaches reading and chanting Torah at the rabbinical programme at Leo Baeck College, and has published “Learn to Leyn: The Cantillation of the Hebrew Bible”. Her book “Tuning the Soul: Music as a Spiritual Process in the Teachings of Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav”, was published by Brill in 2010. In 2016 the Hebrew version of the book, “Shir Shel Hesed”, was published by the Bialik Institute. Previously she published a chapter on the Shekhinah in “The Absent Mother” (Pirani, A, ed., 1991) and on Nahman’s perception of Music in the Journal of Synagogue Music (2009). She is a composer, and has performed in theatre in Israel, UK and USA, and with various musical ensembles.

Chani recommends those who are serious about learning to purchase their own online copy as a resource at home: Learn to Leyn | Leo Baeck College (lbc.ac.uk)